This is a discussion on New Maruti Alto 800. EDIT : CLEAR scoop pictures on Page 18 & 20 - Now Launched within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; Good enough to be an Alto & under Rs.3 lacs price segment.
I see no compromise in this car to ...

Good enough to be an Alto & under Rs.3 lacs price segment.
I see no compromise in this car to justify its price tag, considering what the crappiest interiors of the cars from other largest japanese car maker are.

Came across many people in last few days, who were also misinformed about the New Alto800 as the Alto with Diesel engine !
Ain't this the high time to introduce the same in upcoming soon span of time, say another half FY ?

This is an ugly combination of A-star and Wagon-R (my personal opinion). The present day Alto looks much better. As rightly pointed out by Romeomidhun, Maruti has taken "inspiration" from competitors and implemented in a coarse way.

This is an ugly combination of A-star and Wagon-R (my personal opinion). The present day Alto looks much better.

You are right. When I saw the box-y shape, I thought it was a Wagon-R variant. Then, I saw pictures of the headlights, and I thought it was an A-star variant. The name says it's an Alto. Call it the "Wag-Star" and it's a name that suits the car better.

If they did have to change the design, they could have brought back the design of one of the classic Maruti 800s. Bringing back a classic design is not uncommon - Dodge did it with the Challenger (not to be confused with the Charger) to compete with Ford's Mustang. The Dodge Challenger has been quite a success in the UAE; perhaps Mustangs outnumber Challengers, but at least they are able to put up a competition in a market where nobody bought Dodge vehicles in the past (except for the occasional Dodge Durango for its large size).

The Malayalam daily Kerala Kaumudi on yesterday's paper carried a news item that the new Alto 800 had already become a hit much before its launch. But the news carried the photo of a different car, the Cervo. Funny. The news is in Malayalam, but posting as is visually self explanatory.
source: Kerala kaumugi epaper October 14, 2012.
link: http://junctionkerala.com/KeralaKaumudi-ePaper/

The Malayalam daily Kerala Kaumudi on yesterday's paper carried a news item that the new Alto 800 had already become a hit much before its launch. But the news carried the photo of a different car, the Cervo. Funny. The news is in Malayalam, but posting as is visually self explanatory.
source: Kerala kaumugi epaper October 14, 2012.
link: http://junctionkerala.com/KeralaKaumudi-ePaper/

tried searcing for "maruti alto800" in google images and got the news published by Asianet a while ago with the same cervo pic

When Maruti modified Versa and developed Eeco by their own, the priced it at around 2.7L ex-showroom for base version. It has a bigger 1.2L engine and bigger body mass. Now, when they modify the Alto and develop this Alto800, they should price it around 2.3L, IMO. They don't need to pay too much of royalty to Suzuki for this, I think.

I just went through a video review of Alto 800.
The front end looks way too similar to that of a Figo. I was quite confused after seeing the scoop pictures earlier, looked like a badge engineering. But its not possible in this context (between maruti and ford)

Seems like banks have quickly jumped into alto 800 launch hoopla.
Received an sms from HDFC "book alto 800 with zero down payment". Not sure there was such promotion even before official launch of vehicle.

Am seriously thinking of retiring my wife's 2003 Alto Lxi with 37k on the odo and buy the new one. Should be priced well given the fact that the old model is available with a huge discount plus exchange bonus. What would make more sense? Old shape Alto with a steal of a deal or the new one with no offer thrown in?

news articles say about 6000 pre bookings for the new Alto even before launch!! Maruti is sitting on one more new gold mine!! MUL sure knows how to play the Indian market and produce winners. Its like a Salman Khan movie

Am seriously thinking of retiring my wife's 2003 Alto Lxi with 37k on the odo and buy the new one. Should be priced well given the fact that the old model is available with a huge discount plus exchange bonus. What would make more sense? Old shape Alto with a steal of a deal or the new one with no offer thrown in?

I suggest you to go for the new one, or, move up in the segment (WR / Ritz / Swift)